Boston Buildup 25k Race Report

There’s something about the metric system that seems so manageable to me. Weekend warriors run a 5k, right? A 10k is under an hour, right? A 15k? Well, that’s such a weird distance that no one can rattle off their PR in a 15k. It’s less than a half marathon. So that’s good.

Last weekend, I thought to my self “self, you’re running a race next Sunday. Well, at least it won’t be as long as the half marathon you ran a few weeks ago.” Mentally, I was ready to hit the course, relax and see what I had to do. However, a horrible google search revealed what I guess everyone who isn’t a total moron knows: a 25k is 15.53 miles.

Man, I’m an idiot. Once I realized how long the course was, I started to ask around. I was speaking to my friend Ted who offered: “That course may be the hardest race I’ve ever run. It’s all uphill.” All uphill? Clearly, I had to gather more opinions — “It’s only uphill for the first half,” added fellow Taconic Karen. Ted agreed: “Yeah, you’re over the hardest hills after the first hour.” Gulp. Hour.

The Boston Buildup is a series of races organized by Club Connecticut , and features four races, a 10k, 15k, 20k, and 25k. That’s a lot of metric. OK, I’ll stop. It’s designed to be training runs for people doing Boston, but anyone can run it. And it’s not a training run. It’s a freakin’ race. With some great runners, coming from both New England and New York. I only did the 25k this year, but I have to say I’m hooked. It’s a great, if thin field — 200 runners or so I’d say, but great runners all around.

Course from GPS -- Click for larger

I would hope, in perfect conditions (!), to be able to run a 25k in 1:51, which would be a 7:10 pace. I thought I’d shoot for a 7:15 as I knew it was going to be freakin’ super freakin’ hilly. Here’s a course profile from my GPS, it’s really mile 5>8.5 that are killer, but overall it’s no picnic throughout. Around mile 12, when I asked about the 4th person I saw “hey, 25k is 15.5 miles, right?” I added a “it’s gotta be close to the end.” The guy I was running next to said “just keep running the miles.” Poetry indeed.

Overall unofficial time was 1:51:56, for a 7:12 pace. I’m thrilled. But sore. Oh so sore.

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